The conventional approach to solving the data communications problems associated with multiprocessor architectures in data processing systems has resulted in a direct dedicated connection architecture to provide paths among all the processors needing to communicate data or control messages. This approach has a number of disadvantages including the need to have as many input/output channels as there are other processors in the expanded multiprocessing system. Thus, the cost of an additional processor must include the cost of the paths to the other processors as well. The net effect is to multiply the cost, bulk, weight and complexity of the effective multiprocessing system whenever an additional processing unit is added to increase the functional performance or capacity.
A related problem of prior art distributed data processing architectures is that they require some form of centralized control. Frequently, a centralized monitoring station is required for address transmission in a quasi-polling operation or alternately, a centralized channel for broadcasting sample priority values to all distributed processing nodes is required. Such centralized control mechanisms limit the flexibility in modifying the number of distributed processing elements connected into the system.